Best Deals Under $100

The Laifen is our second-most budget-friendly hair dryer, even when it’s not on sale, after the Rusk W8less. It’s similar in appearance to the Dyson Supersonic: T-shaped, with a compact head that makes it easier to hold. Its concentrator attaches magnetically and can be rotated without taking it off entirely. Our testers found the buttons well-designed and easy to use, and the icons easy to read. Plus, it’s not too loud, reaching 79 decibels in our tests. The Laifen comes with only one attachment (a concentrator), and lacks a one-touch cool shot. It’s the least hot of all the hair dryers we tested, reaching 108° F in our tests on its highest setting. And at 71 inches, the Laifen’s cable is the shortest of all our recommended dryers.

Hot Tools hair styling tools are a common sight at hair salons, and for good reason—and this one just dropped $20 to boot. Our evaluators found that this flat iron heated up fast and was easy to use. It has variable heat settings to give users more control, and the plates are slightly longer than most straighteners, a feature that could be useful for styling longer hair. It’s important to note that the temperature consistency isn’t reliable and could vary by as much as 20 degrees from the set temperature during use. It has a 2-hour window before it automatically shuts off, so you’ll want to remember to unplug it after every use.

This was $20 less during Prime Day.

Portable wireless speakers often take a beating, rattling around in the bottom of a backpack or getting knocked off a picnic table—all of which argues for a modestly priced speaker like the JBL Flip 7. The model boasts decent bass, adequate volume, and satisfying sound quality. The 12-hour battery life claimed by JBL is long enough for even your epic 81-song Abba to ZZ Top playlist. And with an IPX7 rating, the Flip 7 is not only splashproof and spillproof but also totally dunkable, according to the manufacturer. One other cool feature: If you buy the Flip 7 from JBL, you can have it personalized, choosing the color and printing your own image or text on the grill.

The Sony ULT Field 1 is an amenable companion for a trip to the pool or the beach. It’s pleasant sounding with a strong impactful bass ideal for summer tunes. It doesn’t play super loud, but that’s largely a function of its modest size. It boasts an IP 67 rating, which means it’s well sealed from sand and dirt, and can take a modest dunking. 

While Apple claims the AirPods 4 are improved over the AirPods 3, our testers were less impressed. They’re still solid headphones if you prefer not to have eartips stuck in your ear. The fit, despite Apple’s tweaks, is pretty much the same as previous models, as is the sound. These headphones were $15 less for Black Friday, but they have stayed the same since Prime Day started.

This wireless model from JBL delivers acceptable sound quality and top-notch active noise reduction. These earphones have an isolating design and an ambient sound monitoring feature; they will provide some muffling and electronic canceling of external noises and also reduce the amount of sound that escapes from the earpieces. As such, they are best for those who want highly portable earphones that reduce the amount of noise they hear from their surroundings, or don’t want the sound from the earpieces to disturb others.

The ceramic-coated nonstick Our Place Perfect Pot is a popular Dutch oven, and it’s a top performer in our lab tests where we bake bread, simmer sauces, clean, and evaluate how quickly and evenly each Dutch oven heats. The one area where this pot scores less well is handle temperature, so you’ll want to keep a potholder handy if you choose this model. Overall, it’s an attractive and versatile piece of cookware for your kitchen, and you can get it now for 40 percent off.

This frying pan rarely goes on sale, and it’s at the lowest we’ve ever seen at Our Place. The 10.5-inch pan cooks evenly, and its ceramic coating rates well for food release and durability. The handle is super sturdy and cool to the touch while cooking. Though made of aluminum, the pan is induction-compatible, says the manufacturer.

 In our tests, this pod brewer is a bit slow to start, but it brews repeat cups quickly and consistently. It’s also packed with features, including a removable reservoir, height-adjustable drip tray, programming, auto-shutoff, strong brew mode, iced brew mode, and the ability to dispense hot water for tea and other non-coffee beverages. While Amazon says this model is usually 209.99, the highest we’ve seen it go is $129.99. That said, it’s actually $5 less than it was during Prime Day.

Shopping Managing Editor Mary Beth Quirk owns this coffeemaker and loves it. Cuisinart makes several top-performing drip coffee makers in Consumer Reports’ ratings, including the Cuisinart PerfecTemp 14 Cup Programmable DCC-3200. It impressed our testers in our brew performance tests, meaning you can expect a great-tasting cup (as long as your beans are fresh). It’s also simple to clean and convenient to use, and the carafes are easy to hold and pour from.

This coffee maker was $17 less during Prime Day, but it’s still a nice price.

Of all the toaster ovens in CR’s tests, the Hamilton Beach 31156 performs better at our toasting tests than many, plus it does a solid job at baking. The only area where it delivers a so-so performance is in reheating. It does have a novel design: a bread slot for toasting, like you’d find on a dedicated toaster, with a low oven cavity underneath. This simple model is best suited for people who would use the oven in a limited capacity. At less than $100 on sale, it’s a steal, especially for toast lovers.

If you’re interested in making your own ice cream at home, this could be a great lower-cost option. We really liked the consistent, creamy texture of the sorbet and ice cream that came out of the Cuisinart. This was true both immediately after production and after we froze them overnight. The sorbet was a bit icier and less perfectly consistent than that made by the other ice cream makers we tried. But that was easily remedied by dragging a spatula around the sorbet to smooth out some of the ice midchurn.

This ice cream maker was $16 less during Prime Day, but it’s still $20 off.

The Meater+ meat thermometer is one of the most reliable digital thermometers. It’s easy to use, and given its top-notch accuracy, you won’t need guesswork to determine the doneness of brisket and other fleshy delights. It’s shaped like a thick ink pen with dual sensors—one for internal temperature and one for ambient temperature—and its size makes it better suited to girthier cuts. The Meater+ transmits temperature readings wirelessly to the companion smartphone app.

Despite the "cooling" in its name, this Nectar pillow doesn’t actually have cooling properties. Still, it’s one of the most breathable pillows we’ve evaluated, and our tests show that it doesn’t retain warmth. This polyurethane foam and polyester pillow is also quite resilient and excels at offering support for side sleepers. Back sleepers, however, would be better served by the Coop Original.

Side and back sleepers will find the GhostBed pillow quite dreamy. It’s made of shredded memory foam pieces with a polyester fiber cover and can be customized to your level of support by removing some of the shredded foam pieces and polyester gel fibers. Our tests found that sleepers of all sizes and positions can get some degree of improved support by removing various amounts of filling. This adjustable pillow, which comes in a pack of two, earns just middling marks in our resilience test but aces our breathability test.

The PetSite 3-in-1 is multifunctional, easy to assemble and fold, lightweight, and sturdy—and it’s at the lowest price we’ve seen. It’s also really versatile for travel. It serves as both a car seat and portable carrier, complete with a carrying strap. It has a maximum capacity of 33 pounds, so you could potentially fit two small animals, and the mesh top makes it easy to keep an eye on them. Our evaluator reported that it was easy to assemble, and the stroller moved easily, even on bumpier surfaces.

This bag, now $10 less than it has been, fits five beach towels, one water bottle, two bottles of sunscreen, a hardcover book, four small packs of pretzels, and sunglasses. The Simple Modern beach bag is made of soft EVA material and has the thickest hand straps of all the bags we tested. The handles folded backward and forward easily and never got twisted.

The Dirt Devil Compact Portable Spot Cleaner is a light little carpet cleaner at just 9 pounds with a full tank of solution. Amazon had a better price by $20 duing Prime Day, but this is the lowest price out there right now. While the portable cleaners in our tests don’t measure up to full-sized machines in terms of their cleaning abilities, this model did well, especially when it comes to drying. It’s also one of the quieter models we tested. The tank isn’t huge (partly why the cleaner is so light), but if you’re just using it for spills and spot-cleaning, this model will do the trick.

The GorFanty 10-in-1 MultiPurpose, which typically retails for $100, has hit an all-time low price for Prime Day. It is an excellent cleaner with a decent steam rate. It takes only 20 seconds for the steam mop to produce steam, and its steam can last for around 10 minutes on its maximum setting. We like that you can adjust the length of the mop to accommodate people of different heights. The mop comes with plenty of accessories, including attachments for cleaning tile grout, clothes, furniture, windows, and carpets.

The Steam & Go Housekeeper 10-in-1 SAG806D does a bang-up job at cleaning stains off tile floors. It has a fairly long runtime and comes with many convenient tools, including attachments for cleaning tile grout, clothes, furniture, and carpets.

This was $20 less during Prime Day, so it could drop again closer to the Fourth of July.

The Black+Decker Flex BDH2020FL is impressive at cleaning, though it’s a bit noisy. We like that its dustbin is larger than most, so you won’t have to stop to empty it as often when you’re cleaning. It also comes with a long 4-foot hose, making it easier for you to access hard-to-reach places. Its current discount is on a par with the lowest price we’ve seen this vacuum sell for this year.

If you’re tired of lugging around a heavy hand vacuum while cleaning, you should consider the Shark Ion W1 WV201. At 1.4 pounds, it’s one of the lightest hand vacs we’ve tested. And despite its strong cleaning performance, it’s also fairly quiet. The downside is that its bin is on the small side, so you have to empty it frequently when tackling big messes.

Amazon and Walmart have the lowest prices out there right now, though they both offered this vac for $15 less during last week’s sales.